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This is not video game style remote driving. The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier. This i

This is not video game style remote driving. The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier. This is presumably to allow humans to help make higher-level decisions. For example, maybe the car asks something like "this road is blocked. I could cross the double yellow line to get around, or I could reverse and go a different way. Both of these options are suboptimal, can you help me choose?" The most extreme type of assistance could maybe be a human drawing or modifying the vehicle's planned path (if you watch any of the Waymo example videos, you'll see the immediate path that the vehicle is planning to take). But even in this scenario, the car is still responsible for navigating that path and avoiding any obstacles.

JetSpiegel 9y ago
> The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier.The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier. Of course, how inconceivable that a self driving car could crash into a static barrier! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCF8tVqM3I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCF8tVqM3I
- Dibes 9y ago
  While I agree, yes it has been proven with Tesla's technology that it could happen, I believe that Waymo would not be so callous as to apply for this permit if it had not 100% proven that its technology would not do something as blatantly bad as that. I could be wrong, but I certainly feel through their various reports and showcases that they have by far and away the best grasp on fully autonomous vehicles. I have yet to read that in their millions of miles of fully autonomous driving there was a crash that was worse than cosmetic damage to either vehicle or caused injury [1]. They also seem ready to take responsibility for any of their mistakes and use them as a learning experience to further improve their technology. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo#Crashes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo#Crashes
  - buvanshak 9y ago
    > I believe that Waymo would not be so callous as to apply for this permit if it had not 100% proven that its technology would not do something as blatantly bad as that. It it could prove this 100% to itself, it should be able to prove it to the general public and the authorities in a test environment..
- jvolkman 9y ago
  That's not a self driving car. Autopilot is L1 or L2 at best, vs. Waymo's L4. There's a huge gap between the two.

JetSpiegel 9y ago

> The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier.The car is always in control, and its primitive object avoidance routines won't let it crash into a barrier. Of course, how inconceivable that a self driving car could crash into a static barrier! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCF8tVqM3I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCF8tVqM3I

Dibes 9y ago
While I agree, yes it has been proven with Tesla's technology that it could happen, I believe that Waymo would not be so callous as to apply for this permit if it had not 100% proven that its technology would not do something as blatantly bad as that. I could be wrong, but I certainly feel through their various reports and showcases that they have by far and away the best grasp on fully autonomous vehicles. I have yet to read that in their millions of miles of fully autonomous driving there was a crash that was worse than cosmetic damage to either vehicle or caused injury [1]. They also seem ready to take responsibility for any of their mistakes and use them as a learning experience to further improve their technology. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo#Crashes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo#Crashes
- buvanshak 9y ago
  > I believe that Waymo would not be so callous as to apply for this permit if it had not 100% proven that its technology would not do something as blatantly bad as that. It it could prove this 100% to itself, it should be able to prove it to the general public and the authorities in a test environment..
jvolkman 9y ago
That's not a self driving car. Autopilot is L1 or L2 at best, vs. Waymo's L4. There's a huge gap between the two.